AI Hits Its Pandemic Moment as IPOs and Multitrillion-Dollar Bets Reshape Tech

Business Insider frames May 20, 2026 as AI’s defining pivot, likening it to COVID’s 2020 moment: Nvidia reports a record $81.6 billion quarter, Anthropic projects $10.9 billion in the next quarter, OpenAI plans an IPO after a breakthrough, SpaceX files to go public signaling a broad AI push, and Meta cuts thousands of jobs to double down on AI—all pointing to a massive, uncertain reordering of the tech economy driven by AI and interdependence among the giants.